2016 Ask Ubuntu Moderator Election

Tim

00:26

@Seth Where is that setting?

Videonauth

@Tim in change details

user136984

09:58

@Seth: The link to your GPG key contains the name and email address you provided for that.

jokerdino

@ParanoidPanda signing the CoC is Ask Ubuntu specific requirement. You don't have such requirements elsewhere in the Stack Exchange network.

user136984

@jokerdino: So why isn't it enough to just give the moderator team a link to your LP account so that they can verify but nobody else gets to see your details?

user136984

I would expect it to be more flexible if it's AskUbuntu specific...

jokerdino

Because everyone gets to vote and not just the mod team.

user136984

I know, but couldn't the mod team just tell everybody that it was the case? Why does everybody have to see it? Wouldn't they believe the mods if they said it were done?

jokerdino

10:13

If you really want to protect your name and email, create a separate account for the case.

user136984

Yeah, I think I'm going to have to do that.

jokerdino

10:45

hi @Pilot6

Pilot6

11:10

@jokerdino hi

jokerdino

so late I forgot why I pinged you.

Pilot6

I got notified a second ago

That was some glitch

jokerdino

I pinged you like 25 minutes ago.

Pilot6

May be at that time I nominated myself or something and you saw it

Olu Douglas

hi guys..

jokerdino

11:11

@Pilot6 no, you nominated quite a bit earlier.

I pinged you to welcome you to chat, ha.

Never saw you in chat before.

hi @OluDouglas

Pilot6

I visit chats, but not too often

jokerdino

That's gonna change, right? :)

Olu Douglas

Atleast for you its not too often.. me its almost as if i do it once in 6months

Pilot6

If I am here I am always available to chat

jokerdino

mods do a lot of chatting

with other people, with each other, that sorta thing.

Pilot6

11:15

I know. I read it sometimes. But I do not chat just for chat. If there is something to discuss, I take part.

jokerdino

:(

Olu Douglas

I need some advise guys

Pilot6

Why :-( ;-)

jokerdino

@Pilot6 maybe you should do what I do and lurk all day every day.

@OluDouglas what's up?

Pilot6

)))

Olu Douglas

11:17

I'm a contestant and I'm thinking of pulling out.. I don't think I deserve to go thru but as per the current stats.. i can still make it (i think)

what do you think

should i stay or?

jokerdino

If I were you, I would want to showcase my consistent contributions to the site and try again next time we have an election.

Pilot6

@OluDouglas You can stay. Why not? If you are not elected this time, you can try again later. This is a good experience anyway.

Olu Douglas

Ok...

Videonauth

@Pilot6 agreed

Olu Douglas

@jokerdino I agree

Experience is a good teacher

Pilot6

11:20

I can also withdraw, if there are many good candidates. I have 20k rep and can do something without being a mod. At the moment Videonauth is perfect for me. If there is someone else of this quality, I can withdraw.

Videonauth

@Pilot6 Wow this coming from you means a lot

Olu Douglas

I agree.. feller is shining...

Videonauth your performance is impressive

Journeyman Geek

lol

Mind if I weigh in? As someone who stood/lost in a AU election and won another election? ;p

Videonauth

I not mind :) you're welcome to shed enlightment

Journeyman Geek

A lot of good moderators don't think they're up to it. There's a tipping point where "I can contribute more as a mod" than as a 20-30K user.

a good chunk of mod tools are just leveled up versions of the tools you would use as a 20-30K user

I'd you're pondering about pulling out though, you ought not to have signed up to start with. Now that you have, its worth considering once whether you want to go with it, or let the community decide

A lot of 'new' mod candidates also try to fill in the badges after the election starts, and go nuts on meta moderation activities. Don't - your overall contrbution's whats important

Videonauth

11:35

well filling in the badges would be a hard part within those few days

Journeyman Geek

@Videonauth people try

its... ugly

Pilot6

@JourneymanGeek That is a good point. Let the community decide. My point was not to push out better candidates, if I see them.

Videonauth

well I don't, i go on with the stuff as usual, commenting editing, reviewing

Journeyman Geek

At this point, you should be at the point where people look at you, and go "hey. this is one of my three'

@Pilot6 the primaries, if any, should weed that out

@Videonauth I've lost.. 3? 4? elections on SE

Videonauth

i know i have not much meta activity but i try to be more active there from now on, no reason to dig out old posts and answer them just for the sake of activity

Journeyman Geek

11:36

usually cause someone asked me to stand ;p

@Videonauth Meta is useful - it gives you longer term visibility, and an insight into how the site works

Videonauth

it is but i doscovered it late and well now i always have a window open there too

Journeyman Geek

I'd consider reading meta to be a essential thing for a mod

or if you're a high rep user, and want to influence the path the site takes

Olu Douglas

I too have been taken up with work.. sometimes its just hard to be around..

esp in countries down here

Journeyman Geek

@OluDouglas the 'official' suggestion is half an hour a day.

Olu Douglas

Sounded easier said than done back those days

Journeyman Geek

11:41

If you can't pop in for a little bit every day, well, not really worth standing for mod-ship

especially since new mods tend to have a short period of hyperactivity, exactly like puppies ;p

Olu Douglas

That i can... trouble comes in when there isn't an internet connection

:)

Journeyman Geek

@OluDouglas that's an important thing to consider - you're essentially managing a site - you're mostly the hands, and sometimes the eyes and ears

but as a high rep user, you can do many of those things or get it to a mod.

Olu Douglas

agreed.. @JourneymanGeek

Videonauth

@JourneymanGeek hehehe well that isnt the problem on my side :) i have more than plenty of time, and i spend it here

Journeyman Geek

irregular internet access may make it difficult to be a mod

At my last job, I used to clear mod queues over lunch

so not a huge amount of time - I donno how big mod queues are, but rarely are you going to walk in and see a few hundred flags

if you do... well, panic.

but you're going to need to be consistant and insanely patient

and I consider someone complaining about you, and getting massively downvoted on MSE a rite of passage for a new mod ;)

jokerdino

11:46

double digits? yes. Triple? no.

Journeyman Geek

yeah

I'd say under 20 is normal on SU

and a good chunk of those are obvious

jokerdino

20 is too little.

Journeyman Geek

@jokerdino you guys clearly need more mods ;)

jokerdino

Unless one of these guys go crazy.

We maintain it in the mid double digit range.

Journeyman Geek

0_0

daily?

that's plausible

jokerdino

12:01

it happens every day

anonymous2

12:12

Say, I know this is on a slightly different tack, but is there a way that the community can impeach a moderator for poor service or inadequate attention to the site?

jokerdino

yeah

Journeyman Geek

84

A: Handling Calls to Remove a Moderator

Moderator Action Review Process After much discussion, debate, reflection, consultation, frustration, revelation, constipation and inspiration, we've settled on the following process for allowing a team of moderators to remove one of their own. It is, by necessity, somewhat formal: this process...

anonymous2

Has it ever happened?

Journeyman Geek

Yeah

VERY rare tho

jokerdino

12:29

@anonymous2 your one question quota has been used up.

anonymous2

It would be nice to know what that is. I won't ask, though, in case it means I'm not allowed to.

Olu Douglas

Woow.

jokerdino

@anonymous2 I can't actually remember any of such incidents. But there are nearly a hundred sites in the network and it should have happened in one of them at some point of time.

Journeyman Geek

@anonymous2 let me put it this way - its uncommon as heck, and typically there would be a ton of stuff you're not privy to. Mods resigning/retiring is more common.

and it would be kiiiinda obvious when a mod's crossed the line

anonymous2

Seriously, @jokerdino, you've really got me curious on that "one question quota" thing.

jokerdino

12:43

@anonymous2 that was just me goofing around. Ask away.

anonymous2

I wondered... :)

I thought of replying, "What's that?"

jokerdino

You wouldn't have been here to read the reply then. ;)

anonymous2

You would have kicked me out??

(shocked)

Oops, that was a question!

:E

jokerdino

I am watching e-sports. Will be distracted.

muru

@anonymous2 the closest to this I have seen was Richard's stepping down on Science Fiction & Fantasy.

46

Q: Why was a moderator on our Stack asked to step down?

As we all know by now, Richard is stepping down as a moderator for this Stack. As Richard notes both in his announcement and in chat, he was asked to step down by a community manager. After speaking with the powers-that-be, I have been offered a stark choice; jump ship or get pushed. and ...

Science Fiction & Fantasy has seen some terrible times.

anonymous2

12:57

It sounds like a hard site not to get opinion based questions and answers on.

But that's just my opinion. :)

muru

@anonymous2 Science Fiction & Fantasy? Nah, they're actually pretty strong on references

Aside from click-baity titles, it's a pretty good stack

anonymous2

Okay, right. Science is observable, repeatable, able to be subject to experimentation...

I still haven't figured out how evolution fits in there, lol.

So @muru, have you seen your 2 good candidates?

Journeyman Geek

@anonymous2 3

You'll want to pick 3, roughly ordered by preference

muru

@JourneymanGeek I had said I wouldn't join the fray if I liked two candidates

Journeyman Geek

ah

anonymous2

13:08

@JourneymanGeek, refering to previous conversation.

muru

@anonymous2 one, so far. Still observing the comments.

Journeyman Geek

ah

anonymous2

I wonder who that is...

I thought you had dropped a clue earlier about it, but I can't find it anymore.

Say, @muru, what do you think of Videonauth's nomination? He seems to have a lot of support in spite of low nomination score.

jokerdino

@JourneymanGeek Why am I not blocked out of nominating myself?

Journeyman Geek

@jokerdino beats me.

I guess its an edge case?

anonymous2

13:13

Why should you be?

Journeyman Geek

@anonymous2 he has a pretty good record for a newish user

muru

@anonymous2 Videonauth looks solid so far, based on his recent activity. Problem is, he's not been around long enough for me to know he'll be around long enough after the election. :P

Journeyman Geek

And well

anonymous2

I see.

Journeyman Geek

no one has a great candidate score

not that that reflects anything.

anonymous2

13:14

Tim isn't bad.

Journeyman Geek

I've not interacted much with him

jokerdino

@JourneymanGeek maybe they trust the mods

anonymous2

Pilot6 has 38/40

muru

@anonymous2 same problem with Tim. I'm not convinced he can spend enough time here too.

Journeyman Geek

@jokerdino or they know better than to stand again?

anonymous2

13:15

I agree on Tim.

His record, though much longer on this site isn't as good as Videonauth's.

jokerdino

@JourneymanGeek yeah that's what I am talking about.

they trust us to know better.

muru

@jokerdino just for kicks, do it. :P

Journeyman Geek

I mean literally, would you stand for mod again, seeing the horrors you have faced? (jk)

jokerdino

let me see.

Journeyman Geek

FLEE YOU FOOLS! FLEE!

jokerdino

13:16

@JourneymanGeek definitely not

anonymous2

Oh, I see, you're already a mod?

Journeyman Geek

@anonymous2 er... yeah?

anonymous2

Is there a way of telling apart from going to his main profile?

Journeyman Geek

@anonymous2 not really

jokerdino

blue names

Journeyman Geek

13:17

All mods are blue on chat no matter what the site.

anonymous2

Oh!

Why is @muru blue?

Journeyman Geek

(I for example am a mod on superuser here, and any views on this site should be taken with a appropriate quantity of NaCl)

jokerdino

he is mod on vim

anonymous2

Oh, I see... It's transferred.

Journeyman Geek

@anonymous2 basically mods/10K+ users have powers across chat

there's some site specific stuff, and some room specific stuff

jokerdino

13:19

@anonymous2 you didn't know I was mod?

anonymous2

I guess I should really ask this in main chat, but what kinds of powers?

@jokerdino Well, I'm kind of new...

Journeyman Geek

so I can, in theory do moddy things on AU's room, but I wouldn't unless I knew they were cool with it

@anonymous2 dealing with flagged posts, kicks, suspensions, and so on.

99% of chat modding is 'soft' stuff

jokerdino

@anonymous2 I feel bad.

anonymous2

I'm so sorry!

Journeyman Geek

like letting people know when they're going out of line

anonymous2

13:20

Right. Like not knowing who their mods are? :)

Come to think of it, I do remember seeing your profile photo on the mods page, @jokerdino.

Journeyman Geek

naw

basically dealing with overheated arguements, inappropriate language and so on

muru

@anonymous2 only on chat.se. chat.meta.se and chat.so are independent

anonymous2

19:28

Did someone drop out already?

It seems to me there were 11 nominees, but now there are only 10.

muru

@anonymous2 TheChosen...something

I think

anonymous2

Oh, TheChosenOne?

bc2946088

19:43

I know we're still a bit away from casting votes, but just out of curiosity, is it possible to cast only 1 vote for the 2 positions? For instance, if I only have enough knowledge of one of the candidates to cast a vote for.

Seth

Yes it is.

bc2946088

Thanks

Videonauth

well one candidate pulled out but two new are coming

anonymous2

I've heard Panda's joining (I forget what the adjective is - I'm pretty sure it's not Pathetic.)

Who's the other?

Videonauth

@ByteCommander and @ParanoidPanda

anonymous2

19:55

Byte commander should be formidable competition.

Panda looks pretty good too.

Say, @Videonauth, it looks as though your rep has levelled off recently. Is that because you've been devoting more energy to the election, or is that just perceived, or is that because of the lost rep a couple days ago?

Or none of the above?

Videonauth

well i lost around 215 reputation from thar reputation recalculation and i spend today 100 points on two bounties

anonymous2

Ah, I see.

Byte Commander

22:23

Going to nominate myself and join the discussion here soon, probably right tomorrow.

Tim

23:38

That's one clever user!

askubuntu.com/election/5#post-784635

edwinksl

lmao

Transcript for

2016 Ask Ubuntu Moderator Election